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Tuesday, 5 January 2016

Where and When? - Joan Lennon

Here's a little light relief in the dreich days of what may feel to some of us like Flanders and Swann's "bloody January again". It's a quiz: can you guess the place and the date for the 3 summery historical photos below? (Click on them to make them bigger) There are no prizes and no penalties, so if you know, put it in the comments and impress us all, and if you don't, have a wild stab. I'll be posting the correct answers in the comments at the end of the day.Good luck!

8 comments:

The Moon ... the treehouse in Kenya where the Queen heard the news about her dad ... and the place near Bovingdon Tank Museum where I was having a quick wee, having got caught short and it seeming safe enough, the area being absolutely deserted - in mid flow when half the flaming British Army suddenly appeared over the horizon.

I was going to guess at somewhere in America for the first - one of the World Fairs. Chicago? Early 20th century? There's something about the clothing of the people that suggests that to me.

I was going to take another guess at the one with the tanks and the stone circle. Obviously not Stonehenge, and too small for Avebury. I was going to take a stab at a stone circle in Somerset - but Madwippet's concrete detail convinces me she must be right. Bovingdon Tank Museum then.

But Madwippit - crouching down for a wee instantly produces crowds anywhere. I had once walked over lonely Scottish hills for an entire morning without seeing another soul except for deer. The moment - the MOMENT - I crouched down for a wee, a whole bloody coach-party of hikers appeared on the path. I had known they would - if it's not the British Army, it's them - but I was desperate. And sure enough, right on cue...

I don't know where it is they hide until you lower your jeans, but they're always there, waiting...

And the answers are ...1. Le Vrai Arbre, the original Paris treehouse cafe (the craze caught on so well they had to call it that, to differentiate it from its competitors), 1888.2. Bren gun carriers of the 9th Battalion, Gordon Highlanders, criminally mucking about, no, er, on manoeuvres at the Ring of Brodgar, Orkney. 18 June 1941.3. Buzz Aldrin's bootprint on the moon, 20 July 1969.

Well done to the contestants and thank you for the interesting side discussion on how to meet people and seals.

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